IMGL Magazine April 2022

IMGL magazine

VOLUME 2 • NO.2 APRIL 2022

SPOTLIGHT ON REGULATORY ISSUES

PLUS: ADVERTISING BANS, NFTs AND VIRTUAL DIGITAL ASSETS IN GAMING, FORMER DK REGULATOR’S PERSPECTIVE, UKRAINE, SINGAPORE, IRELAND, PHILIPPINES, UK GAMBLING WHITE PAPER ...& MUCH MORE

IMGL Magazine • April 2022 • 1

IMGL Officers

Cosmina Simion Secretary Simion & Baciu Romania +40 31 419 0488 [email protected] Diane Mullenex Assistant Treasurer Pinsent Masons London +44 20 7490 9250 [email protected]

IMGL Officers 2022

Marc H. Ellinger President Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch, L.C. Jefferson City, Missouri +1 573 634 2500 [email protected] Quirino Mancini Executive Vice President Tonucci & Partners Rome, Italy +39 06 322 1485 [email protected] Marie Jones First Vice President Fox Rothschild LLP Philadelphia, Pennsylvania +1 609 572 2259 [email protected] Marc Dunbar Second Vice President Dean Mead & Dunbar Tallahassee, Florida +1 850 933 8500 [email protected] Peter Kulick Treasurer Dickinson Wright PLLC Lansing, Michigan +1 517 487 4729 [email protected]

Susan Breen Assistant Secretary Mishcon de Reya London +44 20 3321 7434 [email protected]

Birgitte Sand Vice President, Affiliate Members Birgitte Sand and Associates Copenhagen, Denmark +45 24 44 05 03 [email protected]

Ernest C. Matthews IV Vice Presiden, Affiliat Members Internet Sports International, Ltd

Las Vegas, Nevada +1-702-866-9128 [email protected]

Kathryn R. L. Rand Vice President, Educator Members University of North Dakota Law School Grand Forks, North Dakota

+1 701 777 2104 [email protected]

IM G L

President’s message

IMGL Springing forward Marc Ellinger , President INTERNATIONAL MASTERS OF GAMING LAW I n the Northern Hemisphere, spring is now

an outsized role in technology, much of that relating to our industry. With this war of aggression against it, the country has been put back many years and we have an analysis of its impact on the wider world and European gaming specifically. Meanwhile, Our London Conference committee is working feverishly on our Fall Conference in London, September 14-16. This committee, chaired by Susan Breen, has reserved some truly amazing venues and constructed an educational program that will be second to none. The changing world means changes in regulations and our London agenda will heavily focus on regulators and the trends, both positive and less positive, in regulation and gaming. Clear your calendar now, as you won’t want to miss this conference. I also encourage you to mark your calendars for other upcoming IMGL and partner events including our reception at G2E in Las Vegas on October 11, and the many IMGL Masterclasses across the planet. Please look at pages 13 and 29 for a complete list of events in 2022 or go to our website, www.IMGL.org. Do remember our sponsors who make the IMGL Magazine a possibility. A full list is contained on the back page and our sincere thanks go to all of them. If you enjoy this magazine and would value the platform as well as wanting to support the IMGL, please consider your own sponsorship. It would help us move forward our primary purpose: education in gaming. On this mission, the IMGL has never wavered, please join us! Until we see each other again, enjoy this edition of the IMGL Magazine. Слава Україні! Marc

well underway. Just like the clocks, the IMGL is turning the hands forward. This time, our Spring Conference is dedicated to technology. The two full days in Seattle, (April 28-29, 2022) will focus on the ever-increasing role that technology is playing in our gaming industry. But the IMGL doesn’t just bound forward in conferences, our publications also lead the way and this edition of the IMGL Magazine is no different. Editor in Chief Dr. Simon Planzer and our Head of Publications, Phil Savage, have once again put together a selection of articles at the cutting edge of gaming developments across the entire globe. This edition of the IMGL Magazine also addresses and discusses public policy and regulatory updates from Singapore, Philippines and Ireland. Showing our truly international scope, we discuss an interim report on what to expect from the UK government white paper on the amendment to the 2005 Gaming Act from Regulus Partners. Also look out for a discussion of the regulator’s perspective from Birgitte Sand. As I noted above, technology continues to be a real focus of the IMGL… because it is a focus of our industry and society writ large. This edition has a challenging article on the legality of influencer-promoted social media lotteries and two fascinating pieces on NFTs and virtual digital assets in gaming from IMGL lawyers in India and Mexico. The gaming industry is not just a regulatory world: “real world” events have impact on what we do, too. Many of us will know people who are suffering in Ukraine and I’m sure we all keep Ukraine and its people in our hearts and minds. As many know, the country had

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IMGL Magazine • April 2022 • 3

Editorial

Tread wisely Simon Planzer PhD , Editor in Chief

In our last edition I advised those responsible for setting tax policies to carefully consider the unexpected consequences of policy making ( “Cool Heads and Evidence”, January 2022 ). In this issue, I raise a similar plea towards regulators who may feel under pressure from politicians and special-interest groups demanding that “something must be done” to tackle gambling advertising. Delegates to the IMGL-sponsored World Regulatory Briefing heard from regulator after regulator setting out details of new marketing restrictions which they had either implemented or were under consideration. It was left to industry representatives to ask whether there was evidence that such bans would indeed reduce gambling-related harm. In one interesting debate on channelization, it was pointed out that the opportunity to legally promote nationally-licensed products was one of the few advantages enjoyed by the licensed sector over their unlicensed competitors. Certainly, worse advertising behavior by unlicensed competitors cannot serve as excuse for poor advertising

practices among license holders. But we are still left with a problem: where advertising restrictions result in far-reaching bans on licensees marketing their products, it reduces the business incentive to invest in the significant cost of licensing. Losing that incentive may quicky lead to lower rates of channelization, which in turn are likely to jeopardize the achievement of important public policy goals that are enshrined in national gambling laws. There is yet another important aspect to such bans or far-reaching advertisement restrictions, an aspect well understood by professionals with a background in competition law. That is the notion of the ‘level playing field’. New, smaller market entrants are likely to suffer more from advertisement bans than large brands which are already well established in the market. The former have a much greater need to rely on their commercial freedom of speech to successfully introduce their products to consumers. Other policy makers recognize that there are new and different threats on the horizon. They look at the explosion

Contents

7

Conflict in Ukraine: the fallout

14

Reglator’s perspective: Birgitte Sand

18

Market reform in Ireland

20

Digital ID in Europe

24

Singapore’s Gambling Control Bill

31

The great British Gambling Review: a drama in five acts

35

Social media lotteries

38

Philippines PIGO scheme in review

43

World Regulatory Briefing report

48

NFTs and virtual digital assets in gaming

4 • IMGL Magazine • April 2022

Editorial

in crypto, NFTs and other digital assets and see the characteristic traits of gambling that are also covered in this issue. Consumers may be tempted to spend money on some of these products and, when they come with labels such as “investments” that can be “traded”, to risk more than they might be willing to do with traditional betting products. They are thus exposed to potentially ruinous financial harms. Policy makers are likely to be asked to suggest ways to minimize these potential harms. In light of both aforementioned challenges, calls for the industry and regulators to come together and thrash out good practices are more topical than ever. In this exercise, fundamental principles enshrined in democracies based on the rule of law should not be completely ignored. Restrictions to fundamental rights such as free speech (which also covers commercial speech) need to serve a clearly defined public policy goal and must be proportionate. The latter notably means that restrictions must be both suitable and necessary to achieving the policy goal. Was this legal standard met in regard to restrictions that you have come across? Finally, I invite you not to miss out on an insightful piece by founding member and former president Tony Cabot that tackles practices of social media lotteries. You might be gambling when you think you are not. Yours sincerely, Simon [email protected]

IMGL Magazine • Spring 2021 • 1 Payments special From KYC & AML to PISP & Crypto IMGL magazine VOLUME 1 • NO. 1 SPRING 2021 IMGL launches revamped magazine Disseminating gaming law knowledge globally IMGL magazine INCLUDES ANALYSIS ON: LOOT BOXES, GDPR, MOBILE SPORTS BETTING, NORTH AMERICA, UK GAMBLING ACT REVIEW, FANTASY GAMING, AUSTRALIA’S CROWN CASINO, INDIAN & AFRICAN REGULATION VOLUME 1 • NO.2 SUMMER 2021

IMGL Magazine • October 2021 • 1 VOLUME 2 • NO.1 JANUARY 2022 IMGL magazine INCLUDES ANALYSIS ON: TRIBAL SPORTS BETTING, MALTA’S FATF GREY LISTING, DISTRIBUTED GAMING, EUROPEAN DIGITAL SERVICES, ESPORTS INTEGRITY, EUROPEAN MARKETING REGULATION ...AND MUCH MORE Beautiful Boston: IMGL in-person events return VOLUME 1 • NO.3 OCTOBER 2021 IMGL magazine

PLUS: UKRAINE AND BRAZIL MARKET REPORTS, DIGITAL ID IN EUROPE, CHANNELIZATION AROUND THE WORLD, APPLE’S CASINO APPS ...AND MUCH MORE TAX TALK: SPECIAL FEATURE Tax talk special feature

Click the covers to catch up on past IMGL Magazines. • WITH FEATURES & ANALYSIS OF • • THE EVOLUTION OF REGULATION IN SPAIN • • EXPLOITATION OF SPORTS >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56

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